Hat stay



M. JACOBI April 25, 1950 HAT STAY Filed Jan. 29, 1948 Patented Apr. 25, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I HAT STAY Martin Jacobi, Buffalo, N. Y. Application January 29, 1948 Serial No. ,019

1 Claim.

' This invention relates to a form or shape retainer for a hat and more particularly to a hat stay to retain the shape of the upper fronttop portion of the crown of a soft felt mans hat of the fedora type. It isconventional with such hats to indent the top of the crown and to indent also the front lateral sides of the crown adjacent the top thereof. A hat so shaped is generally placed on and removed from the head of the wearer by grasping the upper top portion of the crown in such manner that'the thumb and index finger engage the indented portions of the crown on the lateral sides thereof and the first finger engages the front of the top indented portion of the crown. When a hat so' shaped is'worn it is occasionally adjusted 0r pressed down tighter onto the head of the wearer, this readjustment also usually being accomplished by grasping the crown of the hat by the first three digits in the manner described above. 'With such continued use of ahat the front crest of the crown becomes creased or is gradually lowered so that the shape of the hat is altered and the hat acquires a battered and worn appearance from this manner of grasping the hat as well as a result of being crushed'or bumped against objects and the like.

Accordingly itis the principal object of the present invention to provide a hat stay for retaining the shape of the front and upper front portions of a mans hatof the fedoratype and which is inconspicuous from the exterior of the hat, readily conformable to the generally oval shape of the wearers head and causes no 'discomfort to the wearer, maintainsthe elevation of the crest of the front portion of the hat crown, is retained in operative position in a manner not injurious to the hat, and can be quickly inserted and removed from the hat as desired.

Another object is to provide such a hat stay which when mounted in a hat will stay in place and will maintain the elevation of the crestof the front portion of the hat crown and prevent the front of the hat from slanting rear- Wardly.

Another object is to provide such a hat stay which can be adjusted to provide different elevations of the crest of the front portion of the hat crown as desired. Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a perspective elevational view of the hat stay forming the subject of the present invention and showing the same arranged in a hatof the fedora type, the hat being illustrated by broken lines and the view being taken from the front left side of the hat. I

- Fig; 2 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical longitudinal central section through the front portion of, the hat stay and hat shown in Fig. 1, the hat in Fig. 2 being illustrated by solid lines.

Fig. 3 is a rear elevational view of the hat stay itself.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view thereof.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but on a reduced scale and showing a modified form of the invention.

Referring to Figs. '1 and 2, there is shown an illustrative form of felt hat of the fedora type in combination with which the hat stay embodying the present invention is employed. While the hat stay may be mounted in any suitable type or form of hat, the hat illustrated in the drawing is representative of the conventional type of fedora having a brim H3, sweat band II, and crown [2 provided with an indentation 13 in its top and indentations l4 and IS in the front upper portions of the crown. A hat so shaped provides a crest or ridge, indicated by the numeral I6, between the side indentations I4, I5 and the top indentation i3. As previously described, such a hat is generally grasped by placing the first finger in the front part of the top indentation 13 with the thumb in one of the side indentations l4, l5 and the index finger in the other side indentation.

In accordance with the invention, the hat stay is formed from a sheet of resilient material into a member to support the hat crown and having a shape conformable to the contours of the front portion of the hat crown. For this purpose, the hat stay has a front portion l8, upper projections or wings I9 and 20 and legs 2| and 22. The front portion 1 8 slants slightly upwardly and rearwardly as shown in Fig. 2 in conformity with the shape of the hat crown l2. The upper projections or iwings I9, 20 extend rearwardly from the front portion l8 and slightly upwardly and diverge from each other. The upper edge of the projections or wings I9, 20 are turned or rolled over inwardly of the hat stay to provide a reinforcing web 23 and a rounded edge 2t. It will be seen that this rounded edge 24 engages the 7 crest or ridge l6 of the hat. It will be noted that the reinforcing web 23 adjacent the front portion It extends rearwardly and downwardly to providea support, for the front portion of the top indentation l3'in the hat crown. The reinforcing web 23 adjacent the front portion I8 is also of substantial width and has a rear edge 25 which extends toward the rear extremities of the rounded edge 24 so that the web 23 progressively de-v creases in width toward said extremities. In this manner the reinforcing web 23 serves as a stiffener between the projections or wings i9, 20 and maintains them in proper divergent relation so that they in turn serve to retain the desired shape of the hat crown.

Viewedfrom the front or rear it will, be seen 3 that the rounded edge 24 defines a V-shaped notch and the crest I6 of the hat crown will conform to this contour.

The projections or: wings L are formed to provide concavities or" indentations; 2-16 and. 28, respectively. These concavities 26, 28 maintain the shape of the indentations M, 5 provided in the hat crown.

In order to maintain the elevation of the crestl6 above the hat brim In, the legs 21 22-015 the:

hat stay are adapted to be inserted between the sweat band II and the hat crown l2. The-legshat brim I0 can be adjusted.

While only one tab 36 is shown as provided on each .OfzthfifGBt 29, 30, it will be understood that any number of tabs can be provided one above the other oneacl'r'foot so as to provide a plu- 2l, 22 are provided with rear-wardly extending feet 29 and 30 respectively, and the bottom edges of. these feet. engage and aresupported on. the bight' fii'of' the sweat band I I. The legs 2], 22 extend divergently'downwardly from the front portion [8 of the hat stay. and these legs with their feet 29, 3% bend to follow the contour of the sweatband ll. w

An important feature of the hat stay is the opening 32v provided between. the legs 2!, 22. When the hat stay is mounted in a hatas'shown inv Fig. 1, thisopening 32.is atthe. front of the hat andsince no portionof the hat stay is'interposed between the sweat band II and hat crown I2 at this place, there is no discomfort to the wearer and th vfront'por'tion of the sweat band can adapt itself to the contour of the forehead or the wearer asif the hat stay were not present. Also, by cutting out the material of the hat stay between the legs 2 I, 22.2. minimum of sheet material'is on th inside of the sweat band and the size of the head openingofthe hat is not noticeably decreased. 7 I

Another importantadvantage of the hat stay is that the feet 29', 3i! extendrearwardly from the legs 2 I, 22, respectively, and prevent the hat stay from being pushed back out of. operative posi= tion. Thus the feet 2 9, 30$s'erv to brace the hat stay against dislodgement. Such stability of the hat stay insures that the hat crown is properly supported at aILtime's and particularly prevents the. front. ofv the hat' crown from slanting rearwardly. v v The hat stay isjreadily insertable and removable from the hat by. bendingoiapulling the front portion of the sweatlbandl away from the crown .l 2'. The modified'form ofhatstay shown in Fig. 5

issirnilar to the. form. of'ftheinvention shown in v Figs. 1-4 except. that means are provided for decreasingithe effective verticaLheight of. the hat stay; Similarjreference.characters,iexcept as distinguished by a. prime exponent, areused in Fig. 5 to indicatelike Or corresponding parts. Referring to Fig. 5', each of th'e'lfee't' 295.36 is shown as provided w'ith horizontal slit 33fl'eading from theliieel toward the. toe of. the corresponding foot and a second horizontal slit. 34 in' line with the slit 33' and leading from. thetoe toward the heel of thecorresponding foot. The s1its,33-,. 3.4 are shown as being paralleltothe'lower. edge of the corresponding foot 29,. 0113 9 andtheop'posing ends of these'slits terminateshort of each other. to leave intact a portion.- of. thefoot body 35 therebetween. However, theoppOs'iteor free ends or". thes slits. 33.; 34. extend to the corresponding vertical edge. of. the corerspondingfoot so that the tab -36 is integrally joinedtoethe foot ,but may be easily torn therefrom- Icy-pushing. 0r pulling either end of the tab. 3.6:ina direction transverse of the. plane of the;foot. the portion.35.-.- thereby being torn. generallyalong alinejoiningthe opposing inner ends of the slits 33, 34.

.. With. the: form-.of thee invention. shownin: .E'ig.

rality of adjustments. Further, any other suitable means of varying the effective vertical height of the hat stay is intended to be included within the teachingof. this feature'ofthe invene tion and the form or tab 36 shown in Fig. 5 is in? tended asillustrativeonly.

The hat stay preferably made fromligh't plastic material or any suitable. semi-rigid, bendable and resilient material, so that it will properly sup.-. port ahat and retain its. shape.

From .theforegoing it will be seen that the invention providesa light weight hat sta'y' which effectively retains the shape of. the front portion of a hat crown, is stablefinv its operative position and not likely to he accidentally or unintentionally dislodged although it can be readily mounted in or removed from theha't,is.r'nountedin the hat in a manner which does notdamage thehat, and creates no discomfort to. the wearer of. the hat. Further the hat stay issimplein construction and inexpensive to manufacture.

A hat stay for. retaining the shape of. a hat, said hat having, a crowhp'rovided with an indentation in itstop and an indentation on each lateral side of the front portion-of said crown and a sweat. band on the interior of said crown and secured along its loweredge thereto, said hat stay. compring a one-piece flexible sheet member having a front portion, divergent wings extending up-- wardly and rearwardly from said front portion and eachprovidedwith a. concavity therein, a depressed Web extending acrossthe space between wardly and rar'wardly. from adjacent the juncture of said wings with said front portion thereby 1eav-. ing an open area betweensaid legs at the front of the hat stay, arid eachof said. legs having a foot portion extending rearwardly from the-lower end thereof, said legs and foot portions being adapted to be arrangedbetween saidcrownand said sweat band whereby the hat .stay engages the interior surface of the front portion of said crown and providesasupport therefor. I v

h v MARTIN JACOBI.

7 REFERENCES: CITED.

The following references are or recordinthe file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

